On Tuesday, the House of Delegates heard HB 304, the House Ways and Means Committee’s approach to maintenance of effort reform waiver process. However, the bill was immediately “special ordered” until Friday for further consideration by the Ways and Means Committee.

The bill has been amended by the Committee, but still falls far short of the efforts that MACo had sought in the legislation. See previous coverage from Conduit Street. The amended bill would establish a waiver process where a county may apply for a waiver to the Superintendent of Schools, with a follow-up appeal to the full State Board of Education. The bill would specify a series of issues that the Superintendent should “consider” as part of evaluating a waiver request.

The revised version of the bill is expected to contain a “sunset” provision, meaning its effects would expire after a fixed period of time (in this case, three years).

The comparable Senate Bill, SB 310, has been voted favorably without amendments by the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.